1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a foot operated mortar drum, latch assembly for use with a mortar mixer. More particularly it relates to a latch assembly for holding the mortar drum in an upright, mixing position, and releasing the latch by use of a foot peg and linkage assembly so that the operator can rotate the drum from the mixing position to a dumping position.
2. Background Art
Present day mortar mixers typically have a cylindrically shaped, horizontally oriented, drum open along the top, and a plurality of mixing paddles and wipers axially and rotatably secured within the drum. Dry mortar, sand and water are poured into the drum through the top opening. A rotation means, such as a gasoline engine, is provided to rotate the paddle axle to facilitate mixing the mortar. After the mortar has been mixed, the drum itself is rotated from the upright position, down to a dumping position where the mortar can be spilled out through the opening.
Mortar mixers, although portable, must be stoutly built for a number of reasons including the hostile, dusty environment, exposure to weather, abusive use by unskilled, inattentive and uncaring operators, and not the least of which, the fact that mortar is heavy. The typical mortar mixer drum will hold six to eight cubic feet of mortar which may weigh anywhere from 200-300 pounds per cubic foot. Eight cubic feet of mortar can weigh well over a ton. To rotate the cylindrical drum containing a ton of mortar from a mixing position to dumping position requires a lot of force. To facilitate this rotation of the drum, vertically oriented dumping handles are provided which can be grasped by the operator and pulled down to rotate the drum and dump the mortar.
A latching mechanism of some sort is also provided to keep the drum in the mixing position until it is desired to dump its contents. Tertinek et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,519, discloses a typical latching system and drum handle. The problem is, as is shown in Tertinek et al., FIG. 1, that the latching mechanism is knee operated and as a result, the operator has to assume an unnatural and unbalanced stance in order to release the drum latch and dump its contents.
What is needed is a latch release system that can also serve as a foot brace to assist the mortar mixer operator in rotating the drum from a mixing position to a dumping position.